There are many documents created when a person dies and leaves a will or dies intestate. These sentences will help document that process.

The Will Tag:

A legal statement of how a person wishes his or her possessions to be disposed of after death.-Definition from Genealogy.about.com

Use this tag for when the will is written. It should be a date before the person died.

Testator Role: [:CR:][:TAB:] [R:Testator] made a will <[D]> < [L]>. <[R:heir] were listed as heirs.><[M]>

Heir Role: [:CR:][:TAB:] In the will of [R:Testator] <[D]> < [L]> [W] was named as an heir. <[M]>

Not mentioned: I use this role for when a known child is not mentioned in his/her father or mother's will.

[:CR:][:TAB:][R:Not mentioned] was not mentioned in [R:Testator]'s will <[D]> <[L]>. <[M]>

Codicil:

A supplement or appendix to a will to change, explain, revoke or add provisions which overrule the provisions in the original will.-Definition from Genealogy.about.com

Testator Role: [:CR:][:TAB:][R:Testator] wrote a codicil to [RS:Testator] will <[D]> <[L]>. <[M]>

Probate of the estate:

1) The process of legally establishing the validity of a will before the court authorizes distribution of an estate 2) The legal process used to appoint someone to administer the estate of someone who died without leaving a will.-Definition from Genealogy.about.com

Testator Role: [:CR:][:TAB:][R:Testator] had his estate divided <[D]> <[L]>. <[M]> It went to [R:heirs].

Heirs Role: [:CR:][:TAB:][R:heirs] received land or slaves when [R:Testator] had his estated divided <[D]> <[L]>. <[M]>

Letters of Administration

For individuals who die intestate.

Deceased Role: [:CR:][:TAB:][R:Deceased] has died intestate and [R:administrator] has been named administrator of [RS:Deceased] estate. [RP:administrator] has been issued letters of administration <[D]> <[L]>. <[M]>

Administrator Role: [:CR:][:TAB:][R:administrator] has been named administrator of [R:Deceased]'s estate <[D]> <[L]>. <[M]>

Accounting of Heirs:

Deceased Role: [:CR:][:TAB:][R:Deceased] has died and an accounting of [RS: Deceased] heirs was taken <[D]> <[L]>. <[R:Heirs] were listed as heirs.> <[M]>

Heirs Role: [:CR:][:TAB:][R:Heirs] was listed as an heir to [R:Deceased] in an accounting of heirs <[D]> <[L]>. <[M]>

These roles were added by Elizabeth Churchett. You can reach her at echurchett@austin.rr.com.

These were added for when you had a testator with multiple heirs so that the sentences read more grammatically correct. Thank you, Elizabeth..

For these you will need the roles:

TestatorHeirMultiple , HeirMultiple, and NotmentionHM-the HM is an abbreviation of Heir Multiple. TMG only allows roles to be 20 characters.

Role: TestatorHeirMultiple

Sentence: [:CR:][:CR:][:TAB:] [R:TestatorHeirMultiple] made a will
<[D]> < [L]>. <[R:HeirMultiple] were listed as heirs.><[M]>

Role: HeirMultiple
Sentence: [:CR:][:CR:][:TAB:] In the will of [R:TestatorHeirMultiple]
<[D]> < [L]> [W] was named as an heir. <[M]>

Role: NotMentionedHM

Sentence: [:CR:][:CR:][:TAB:][R:NotMentionedHM] was not mentioned in [R:TestatorHeirMultiple]'s will <[D]> <[L]>. <[M]>

These roles were added by Elizabeth Churchett. You can reach her at echurchett@austin.rr.com.

These were added for when you had only one heir, so that the sentences would read more grammatically correct. Thanks, Elizabeth.

For these you will need the roles:

TestatorHeirSingle, HeirSingle and NotMentionedHS-the HS is an abbreviation of Heir Single. TMG only allows roles to be 20 characters.

Role: TestatorHeirSingle

Sentence: [:CR:][:CR:][:TAB:] [R:TestatorHeirSingle] made a will <[D]>
< [L]>. <[R:HeirSingle] was listed as an heir.><[M]>

Role: HeirSingle

Sentence: [:CR:][:CR:][:TAB:] In the will of [R:TestatorHeirSingle]
<[D]> < [L]> [W] was named as an heir. <[M]>

Role: NotMentionedHS
Sentence: [:CR:][:CR:][:TAB:][R:NotMentionedHS] was not mentioned in
[R:TestatorHeirSingle]'s will <[D]> <[L]>. <[M]>

Elizabeth suggests the following when some of the heirs were not family members. I personally just put them all in the Heir role and then put their relationship in the suffix field of the name in 5.0. This field does show up in indexes, so be sure you want to do it that way.

[:CR:][:CR:][:TAB:][R:TestatorHeirSingle] made a will <[D]> < [L]>. <The only family member listed as an heir was [R:HeirSingle]; other heirs included [M1].> <[M2]>
where M1 is for the list of additional heirs and M2 is for the same
purpose as M in the Sentences above. (I am using it for a transcription
of the will).

--Teresa's note. I would put the additional heirs in M2 and the transcription in M1, just to be consistant. If you do, you would need to change the sentence.

James P. Colgate made this suggestion which I like too. You can reach James at: jpcolgate at yahoo dot com.

[:CR:][:CR:][:TAB:][R:TestatorHeirMultiple] wrote a
will <[D]> < [L]><, naming [R:HeirMultiple] as
heirs><. [M]>
I like the use of the word wrote instead of made. That is why I am adding James' example. I want to give new users as many options as I can. And show them that you can have fun with this. -- And to quote James--"I do hope at least they help people think about how wonderfully flexible TMG is."